


The Fantastic Tales of the Phantom Spider: Living on the Edge

by The_Phantom_Spider



Series: Fantastic Tales of The Phantom Spider [1]
Category: Persona 5, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Chatty Arsene, F/M, spider-man au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 18:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20394208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Phantom_Spider/pseuds/The_Phantom_Spider
Summary: In another universe, the Metaverse works quite differently. It has never been entered, but thanks to two Scientists at the Shido Corporation, it's power can be harnessed. There's just one problem. Not a single test subject has survived. That is until, during a freak accident, the son of one of those scientists, Aaron Aikman, becomes the first ever Persona User! Now with his newfound powers, his inner self Arsene, and the help of a few friends, Aaron fights the likes of Mob Boss Kaneshiro, the sinister Shocker, and the nefarious plot of serial kidnapper Naamurah, not as Joker of the Phantom Theives, but as...THE SENSATIONAL PHANTOM SPIDER!!!





	The Fantastic Tales of the Phantom Spider: Living on the Edge

**Author's Note:**

> Aaron Aikman, now on parole for a false assault charge, moves into his new "home," but has a strange midnight encounter

**Thursday, 3/31/16**

**8:00 p.m.**

**Holding Cell**

**Days Before Court Hearing: 1**

_ "Behave yourself." _

_ Those were the last words my father said to me… before he got on that plane… _

_ That damn plane… _

_ And for the most part, I'd say I have. _

_ I've made sure not to cause any trouble for my Aunt and Uncle. Always studied hard and got good grades, even ranking in the Top 10 of my first year of high school. _

_ Nothing to jeopardize my father's last words… until I heard that scream on my way home from school one night. _

_ And if you're reading this, you probably already know what happened next. _

_ Some would say I did the right thing, others would say I should've kept out of it, and while that might've stuck closer to my father's words… I couldn't turn away. It's just not in my nature. _

_ So, here I am. Waiting out my birthday in a jail cell, writing in the journal they gave me, because what the shock else was I gonna do? (Do I need to explain that? Ah, maybe later…) _

_ I really hope this is rock bottom. Because then, at least it'll all get better from here. _

____________________________________________________________________________

**??? X/X/XX**

**12:00 a.m.**

**Shibuya Rooftops**

**Hours until Annihilation: 1 **

He really regrets writing those words. Should've known he'd jinx himself. Every time Aaron Aikman thought things couldn't get any worse, life always found a way to prove him wrong. Although, as he sprinted across the rooftops, he'd be hard pressed to think of a situation worse than this.

_ 'Ok, I've got 5 of those things in front of me… and who knows how many behind. Now, if I can just get ahead of them.' _

He shot out webline to the corner of nearby building, only slightly taller than the one he was on now. He took a dive, gripping tightly to the line, and using his newly gained momentum, swung himself into the air, shooting past one of the creatures as his coattails fluttered behind him.

_ 'Well, at least that's one less thing to worry about.'  _ he thought as he landed, barely resting a second before getting back on his feet.  _ 'For now, anyway…' _

"Looking good, Spider!" a young girl said in his earpiece. "You've almost reached the Shido Corporation!"

"I appreciate the encouragement Oracle," Spider replied, "But we both know that's not going to mean much if any of these things get there first." He shot out another line, before sharply tugging on it, and launching himself across the street, and landing back into a sprint. "Is there any chance you could slow these things down?"

He did not want to think about what would happen if a single one of these things got there first. The world was counting on him. His friends were counting on him.  _ She _ was counting on him. Failure was not an option.

"I'm doing everything I can," Oracle said, "but the blackout's making things difficult. If I hadn't hacked your phone, I wouldn't even know where you are."

"I understand. Just keep trying." Spider said, as he continued running. He could just barely see the top of Shido Corporation over the building in front of him.

_ 'If I take running jump off over the ledge, and shoot my webline at the right point, I might be able sling myself around the building and get ahead of these things.' _

As he leapt into the air, his concentration waned slightly. There was a low droning sound that was slowly getting louder. He ignored it and shot out a webline, hitting his target on the side of the wall with ease. As he began to swing he couldn't help but think he'd heard that sound before, especially within the last few months. It wasn't until he rounded the corner that it finally dawned on him, as the object in question came into view. It was a helicopter. A  _ police _ helicopter. 

It seemed even his stray thoughts had betrayed him. As the chopper aimed it's spotlight at him, one thing filled his mind. A lesson that had been drilled into him since they first day he arrived in Tokyo. 

Things can  _ always  _ get worse.

The last thing he saw before the light overtook his vision, was a rifle aimed at his chest.

____________________________________________________________________________

**Sunday, 4/4/16**

**9:00 p.m. **

**Leblanc's Attic**

**Days until School Starts: 1**

He was so tired. And he had barely done anything. His caretaker took him to his new school to meet with the principal, who then proceeded to give him an earful about how serious his situation was, and how he should be on his best behavior, or face the consequences. And maybe it wouldn't have been so tiring… if he hadn't gotten the exact same speech the night before.

He should be thankful he'd even been accepted. He should be happy that someone had taken him in. But currently, he didn't care how he should feel. Everyone was treating him like a burden, seemingly no one willing to give him a chance, or even hear him out. He might as well have never lef-

'Stop it. I'm working myself up over nothing. Sure, the adults I've met haven't been the most warm people, but they just haven't gotten to really know me yet. I just have to think positive, get good grades, and show them who I really am. And since the study body isn't going to know about my record, I might be able to make some friends here.'

He smiled for the first time in days. He might actually be able to enjoy his stay here. He moved to the cardboard box that held his clothes, and started changing.

"And as long as they never find out about my record… I'll be able to keep them this time… A lifetime of lying… Yay…"

And… there went the good mood. 

He sighed as he finished changing, and started moving towards the 'bed.' (If it could even be called that) As he laid down, and pulled the covers over himself, he hoped his dreams would be pleasant, or the very least, that he'd have no dreams at all.

Of course, with his current mood, he doubted he'd get either.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He awoke to a bright green light shining in his eyes, and a faint whirring sound. He turned to face it's source, attempting to shield his eyes with his hand. His eyesight was still adjusting, so he could only really make out two green lights floating in the air, which were certainly not helping any.

" _ Aaron Aikman _ ." the lights said, though the sound was tinny, like it was coming out of a small speaker that had worn with age.

" You are Aikman-kun, right ?" He attempted to focus on it, but was once again blinded by the lights.

"Would you mind shining that somewhere else?" he said in a tired tone. He had no idea what time it was, but considering how dark it was, it must still be pretty late.

" Oh, right ." The whirring sound got slightly louder, as the lights dimmed, and adjusted their shine away from his face. " Sorry …"

"Thank you. Now…" he said, as he finally got a good look at the thing. It was a small black drone, with two green lights at the front. There was also a small device hanging from the bottom, but it was too dark to tell what it was. Speaking of which. "What the shock are you? I'm assuming I'm not being invaded."

" What ?  Oh … Yeah, this probably does look a little weird .  One sec ." He heard the clacking of a keyboard, before a blue light started shining from the bottom. The Drone then turned to face the couch, and shined the light at the wall behind it. It was then he realized what the mystery device was. A  _ projector, which  _ was now displaying a young girl with bright red hair, sitting alone in a dark room. The only light coming from what he assumed were computer monitors. " Tada! " she said. " Remember me? "

"Uhhhh… no? Should I?" He was honestly confused. He was usually pretty good at remembering people, but he was drawing a total blank when it came to this girl.

" I guess that makes sense… We only met once, and that was at least 8 years ago. Welp, I guess we'd better get the introductions out of the way. I'm Futaba Sakura, and I know who you are, because my mother was Wakaba Isshiki! "

Isshiki. There was a name he hadn't heard in a while. She was his father's lab partner back at the Shido Corporation. And while he'd only met her once (he assumed that's also when he 'met' Futaba), his father talked about her all the time when he was alive. 

"Waitaminute… Sakura!? As in-"

" Sojiro, the owner of Leblanc? Yep! "

"Ok, then…" He remembered Sojiro mentioned an adopted daughter, but considering his attitude towards him, he was fairly certain he'd never meet her. The fact that she was he related to his father's old partner put on an extra spin on that curveball. "- so, is there another reason why you're 'here,' or did you just want to introduce yourself? Because you could've just walked over here, if that's the case."

" I thought you'd never ask! " she said proudly. “ You may wanna sit down, because I'm about to drop a bombshell! "

"I've been sitting this whole time…"

" You have? It's kinda hard to tell. The camera's not too good on this thing… "

"It's fine. You were saying something about a bombshell?"

" Oh, right! " she said before clearing her throat, " I think I know who killed our parents! "

Aaron sat there, completely still, seemingly unfazed by the supposed 'bombshell.'

"Ok?"

" Ok!? Ok!? I just came to you with the answer to a 5 year old mystery, one that should be extremely personal for both of us, and all you've got is 'Ok'!? "

"There's no mystery. They weren't murdered."

" Weren't murdered!? They died in a plane crash, caused by unforeseen circumstances! How were they not murdered!? "

"Accidents happen all the time. Just because they don't know what made the plane to crash, doesn't mean someone caused it."

" Doesn't mean- are you kidding me!? It's incredibly suspicious!! "

"Are you just going to keep repeating what I'm saying? Because this is getting ridiculous."

" Ridiculous? What's ridiculous is how you seem to have completely bought this obvious lie!! "

"And, you're still doing it… Is this going to be a running thing with you?"

" Our parents were murdered! " she said clearly frustrated, " And I can prove it! "

"How?"

" That's… what I'm here for, actually. I need your help for this. "

"What kind of help?"

" You remember what our parents were researching? Cognitive Psi-ence? "

"The other world made out of people's minds?"

" Among other things. I think that research is why they were killed. But most of it is stored at their old lab at ShidoCorp, and not electronically either. It's all on paper, and in files. "

"It's been 5 years. How do you know it's still there?"

" I kinda have a photographic memory. And I hacked their cameras to peek inside. The lab's been practically untouched since they died. Occasionally, someone will come in to try and continue where they left off, but they always leave the files behind. And from what I can tell from the footage, they stopped going in there entirely a month ago."

"That's… odd."

" Right!? And I know, I just know that the evidence, or at least the motive, behind our parents murder is somewhere in those files. But I can't just hack my way inside without my computer, and my drone will never get past all the security."

"Well, what do you want me to do? It's not like I can just walk in the front door."

She smiled at him. " Actually, you can. " she said, before pulling up a ShidoCorp ad on the projection. " ShidoCorp is offering a tour for promising college freshmen in two days, and since I'm already in their systems, I can get you on the list. Once the tour takes you to the labs, you'll sneak away, while I hack the cameras, and open the doors, so that your visit is completely undetected. " she said, full of pride at her brilliant plan. " So, what d'ya say? You in? "

He sat there in silence for a moment. On one hand, he genuinely did want to help. The plan was fairly solid, and while he had long since given up on finding answers, she hadn't. She wanted closure. And he could help her get it. On the other hand…

_ "Behave yourself." _

The last time he helped someone without thinking, the last time he betrayed his father's words, brought him here, accused of a crime he didn't commit, alone, with all his old friends abandoning him, and even his Uncle refusing to look him in the eye. He still believes he did the right thing, but… maybe he was wrong.

"No…"

" What? "

"I'm sorry, but no."

" I don't understand. If this is about the murder thing- "

"It's not about that. I want to help you. I really do. But I'm on parole right now. If I got caught sneaking around, or if any part of your plan goes wrong, that's it. My life is over."

" It won't come to that. It's a good plan, I promise. "

"I'm sorry…" he said sadly, "but I can't risk it. Right now, the best thing for me to do is to lie low. You'll have to find someone else."

She looked at him shocked, and a little sad, but as bad as the projection was, he could see understanding in her eyes.

" Ok… " she reached for a button out of sight from the camera, and the projector turned off, before the drone turned to face him again. " I'll leave my drone here until the tour starts… in case you change your mind. " With that, the drone flew to it's hiding spot under the desk, before turning off its lights.

' _ So that's how it got in here.' _ he thought, pulling the covers back over himself. ' _ I hope she finds what she's looking for. She seems to really need it.' _

As he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He had never turned down anyone who needed his help. In fact, he found it helped him just as much. A nice distraction from whatever was bothering him, and he always felt satisfied seeing them smile after a job well done. But, he'd had a good reason for making this choice. He just hoped it was the right one.

**Author's Note:**

> And that was the first chapter of the Phantom Spider! This is an AU I've been working on for Twitter for the last month and a half, and I'm so excited to finally put it out! Special thanks to Assassino for helping me sort out my ideas for this concept, and spiderzandra for making the tweet that inspired this whole thing. If you want to see more art like the comic cover, you can check out my Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpderGoblin
> 
> I also post updates on the story there, and I'm currently working on Phantom Spider versions of the rest of the Phantom Thieves.


End file.
